EP0639948A1

EP0639948A1 - Collapsible refrigerated cabinets

Info

Publication number: EP0639948A1
Application number: EP94906941A
Authority: EP
Inventors: André Renard
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1993-02-12
Filing date: 1994-02-11
Publication date: 1995-03-01
Anticipated expiration: 2014-02-11
Also published as: EP0639948B1; ES2133539T3; DE69418115T2; US5502979A; ATE179313T1; FR2701368B1; WO1994017698A1; DE69418115D1; FR2701368A1

Abstract

PCT No. PCT/FR94/00158 Sec. 371 Date Oct. 11, 1994 Sec. 102(e) Date Oct. 11, 1994 PCT Filed Feb. 11, 1994 PCT Pub. No. WO94/17698 PCT Pub. Date Aug. 18, 1994.The present invention relates to a display cabinet for displaying food products or the like in a shop. A refrigerated cabinet for displaying products includes at least two substantially superposed shelves (1), at least one cover panel, means for guiding and circulating cool air towards the product display shelves, and includes a cover panel made of a material that is thin and lightweight and that includes card, the cover being removably mounted on a base (8) including means for guiding and circulating cool air. The technical field of the invention is that of manufacturing refrigerated cabinets.

Description

REMOVABLE REFRIGERATED FURNITURE

The present invention relates to a display cabinet for food products or the like in a store. Many products need to be placed (in sales areas) in refrigerated (or cooled) furniture or display cases with a circulation of cold air in order to maintain said products in acceptable storage conditions.

Three main problems must be solved by this type of furniture: this furniture must allow the display of products for sale in a manner ensuring maximum visibility for the consumer passing through the store near the furniture and allowing the best 'development possible of the product in particular by good lighting; moreover, this type of piece of furniture must allow the preservation of the products which is generally achieved by a circulation of cold air (in the piece of furniture) which is generally dynamic, that is to say provided by at least one circulation fan cold air; many pieces of furniture of this type have several superimposed shelves and have in their front facade an access zone to the exposed products that is substantially frontal thanks to a large opening provided in the front facade of said piece of furniture; said air circulation comprises an air curtain intended to prevent or limit the penetration of hot air into said piece of furniture by said front access zone to the exposed products. Another general problem to be solved for this type of device is to allow loading and unloading of the products, respectively in the cabinet or out of the cabinet, quick and easy.

A piece of furniture substantially fulfilling these functions is described, for example, in US Pat. No. 3,719 ^ 08 (FULLINGTON), which piece of furniture has a product display area including a front access area, which piece of furniture has an air circulation circuit cold comprising a curtain of cold air protecting this front access opening and a system for cooling the circulating air; said piece of furniture is designed to receive mobile carts comprising a plurality of superimposed shelves intended to receive and display the products for sale.

Nevertheless the known furniture described in particular in this document have many disadvantages.

Indeed, this type of furniture is very expensive and very difficult if not impossible to dismantle and reuse when changing the layout or layout of a store, which store layout operations are made more more frequent in order to attract customers.

It has also been described in patent application EP 2 6 3-43 (GERVAIS DANONE) a container for exhibiting products kept at low temperature in sales premises; this document describes a substantially parallelipedic container or case, opened by its' upper face, the side walls of which can in particular be made of cardboard; this container can be placed on a pallet; the container can receive, either in a cavity or cut in one of the side walls of the box, or placed on the upper part of the box, a cooling device such as a cold accumulator or a device comprising a refrigeration circuit equipped with an evaporator capable of cooling the air in an upper zone of the box containing the products exposed.

Although the device described in this document facilitates the loading and unloading of the products which can be delivered in said box, this device does not allow cold air circulation in the container containing the products, and its use is therefore limited to certain types of products supporting low cooling delivered by the cooling module provided in this document; moreover, a major drawback of this device is that it is not at all suitable for promoting the products offered for sale, which products are piled up inside the box and which box does not allow good visibility of the products. and easy consumer access to them. The problem posed therefore consists in providing a refrigerated cabinet or display case which is very easily removable, while responding to the general problems posed with this type of device, namely: ensuring very good preservation of the products by correct circulation of cold air which '' either static or via cold air circulation fans, allow excellent visibility of products for the consumer and allow to highlight the products on display and give easy access to consumer products; the device must also allow loading and unloading of products very easy.

The object of the present invention is solved by providing a refrigerated display cabinet for food products for example comprising at least two shelves or display shelves of said products, preferably removable and substantially superimposed, which cabinet has cooling means d air and for guiding the cooled air towards said exposure shelves, which piece of furniture comprises an access area for the exposed products. in which at least part of said means for guiding the cooled or to be cooled air is provided by easily removable, low density and thin covering panels.

Preferably, the means for guiding cooled air notably comprise covering panels which are very easily removable and which are essentially constituted by a multi-layer composite material comprising at least one layer or sheet of paper or cardboard, and which are capable of receive on their outer face a printing or screen printing allowing to provide on at least part of the outer face of said piece of advertising messages adapted to the products displayed.

Advantageously, said piece of furniture comprises an internal perforated panel for distributing fresh air towards said products and / or said shelves, and comprises a covering or superstructure substantially monobloc and semi-rigid, which covering is made of a thin and light material, multilayer or laminate comprising at least one layer or sheet of paper or cardboard.

Advantageously, said piece of furniture includes shelf supports and means for circulating cold air towards said shelves allowing air to be introduced at the rear or above said shelves, which piece of furniture preferably includes return or fresh air intake in the lower part, for example in front of said piece of furniture.

Said piece of furniture comprises said access area which is preferably substantially front by a large opening provided in the front or front face of said piece of furniture, which access area or front face is preferably inclined relative to the horizontal, by substantially vertical example, which piece of furniture may include a curtain air intended to limit the entry of hot air inside said cabinet through said front access zone to the products.

In the particular case of a generally substantially parallelepiped-shaped piece of furniture, the solution to the problem posed consists more particularly in procuring a piece of furniture (or display case) refrigerated or cooled, for display and sale in a food or similar store on at least two substantially superimposed shelves, comprising at least one side panel, at least one front panel, at least one rear panel, in which said covering comprises said side and front panels and said rear panel which are connected together for example by staples and / or by bonding.

Said piece of furniture comprises a base (or base) forming a support for said covering, which piece of furniture comprises means for rapidly assembling and disassembling said covering relative to said base, and preferably said covering can be assembled manually with said base forming a support by a movement substantially vertical descending so as to surround or cover said base.

Preferably, said staples are made of plastic, for example in the form of a point with a flat head, or else in two parts, male and female, in the form of a "press button", so as to allow the panels to be assembled together which is irremovable.

Advantageously, at least one of said side, front or rear panels and / or said material constituting said panels has a density less than or equal to four hundred kilos per cubic meter, for example less than or equal to three hundred kilos per meter cube, and preferably at least one of said panels has a thickness less than or equal to thirty millimeters, for example ^of the order of

20 'to 25 millimeters, and preferably said panels and / or said multi-layer material constituting them has a relatively low thermal transmittance and mechanical strength, so that said panels and / or said covering constituted by said panels is capable of '' be assembled or disassembled or interchanged manually very quickly; preferably said panels and / or said multi-layer material constituting them, comprise at least one outer sheet (covering) of paper, cardboard, plastic film, which is printed, screen printed ... The invention can of course be applied to refrigerated furniture of all shapes, in particular of substantially cylindrical shape, for example of circular section preferably of substantially vertical axis, as well as to furniture in the general shape of a pyramid for example.

In a first example of embodiment, said panels (which can constitute said covering and / or said shelves and / or said panels - possibly perforated - for guiding and distributing fresh air) can be constituted by two (respectively three) layers of cardboard corrugated overlays which are held by at least three (respectively at least four) substantially planar layers of cardboard; said layers or sheets of cardboard are for example coated with paraffin.

In a second exemplary embodiment, said panels can essentially consist of two thin (external) layers of cardboard between which is provided a thick (internal) layer of thermal insulator such as polystyrene or polyurethane for example

Advantageously, said pedestal forming a support comprises an upper part, for example of substantially paralleliped shape, which comprises substantially rounded or broken corners or angles, and comprises, in a lower part of said support, support means (or stop or reach) of a at least part of the lower edge of said covering. Advantageously, said base comprises at least one fin cooling air exchanger circulating in said piece of furniture, which exchanger can be constituted for example by an evaporator supplied with refrigerant by a compression refrigeration circuit for example comprising a compressor, a condenser and a pressure reducer. in particular, which base comprises at least one fan for circulating said air cooled by said exchanger.

Alternatively, said exchanger is constituted by a cooling battery in which circulates a refrigerant fluid such as glycol water for example, which refrigerant fluid can be supplied to said cabinet by a refrigeration unit external to said cabinet, and said base comprises at least one fan for circulating said cooled air. Advantageously, at least one of said side, front, rear panels is provided with a cutout defining an opening capable of coinciding with or facing an opening arranged in a side wall of said base, which openings allow the passage of 'a fluid such as air, for example to allow cooling of a refrigerant in a condenser placed on the circuit of said refrigerant.

Advantageously, said piece of furniture comprises feet or longitudinal members which define at least one free space allowing the engagement of forks of a handling machine under said pedestal forming a support and thus allowing easier handling of said pedestal and / or of said piece of furniture.

Advantageously, said piece of furniture comprises sealing means relating to the air, between said base and said covering. Advantageously, said shelves are made of a multi-layer or laminated material comprising at least one layer of paper or cardboard; said internal perforated panel can also be made of a multi-layer or laminated material comprising at least one layer or sheet of paper or cardboard; said piece of furniture may include a ceiling panel which is at least partly transparent, so as to allow the lighting of the products placed on said shelves by a light source external to said piece of furniture.

Advantageously, said piece of furniture includes means for switching on and off a f-rigorific group and / or said air circulation fan provided in said base, which switch is triggered (activated or deactivated) by contact or by a proximity detector during assembly (respectively disassembly) of said covering on said base.

The display furniture according to the invention has many advantages.

Thanks to said panels allowing the guidance of the cooled air inside said piece of furniture and comprising on their external face a sheet capable of being printed or screen-printed, said pieces of furniture are very light and easily removable and can thus be easily moved around. interior of a store when changing the layout of a store.

The furniture according to the invention is moreover particularly adapted in the case of furniture that are in place within stores by distributors of a range of specific products, _t and who intended to highlight the products for which a special event promotion, which is frequently carried out by distributors by placing, for a period which may be brief (from a few days to a few weeks), furniture at the ends of the rows (or linear) of product displays.

In a preferred embodiment where said piece of furniture comprises a covering or superstructure substantially entirely made of said multilayer material using panels connected between e ^~ i by stapling and / or gluing, the entire superstructure of said piece of furniture can be almost instantly dismantled of its support or base comprising the cooling means, and can be discarded and replaced by a new structure or covering. It should be noted that said superstructure or covering can advantageously fulfill the support function of said shelves and of said products displayed in the cabinet and allows excellent visibility and therefore good presentation of the products displayed.

Thanks in particular to the embodiments in which transparent cutouts are provided in the side panels of the covering of said piece of furniture and possibly in the ceiling panel of said piece of furniture forming part of the covering, the enhancement of the products can be further improved by facilitating the penetration inside said furniture of light coming from light sources external to said furniture.

Thanks to said sealing means provided between said covering (or superstructure) and said base forming a support and containing the air cooling means, the furniture according to the invention allows a circulation of cold air with air losses or leaks. cold conditions and thus guarantee good preservation of the products displayed.

Advantageously, said material constituting said panels of said covering or superstructure comprises a large amount of cardboard, so that said covering can be discarded after a few weeks or months of use, said covering can be recycled and used for manufacturing, for example other panels for covering such furniture. In a particular embodiment, in which said product display shelves are made of said multilayer material which may be essentially cardboard-based, said shelves can be used for packaging and transporting the displayed products and can be placed place by the store staff directly inside said cabinet, without particular unpacking of the products packaged and carried by said shelf.

It should of course be noted that the panels and / or the covering comprising said panels and / or said complete furniture superstructure according to the invention can be manufactured industrially at very low prices, thus allowing their replacement at very short time intervals. of the order of a few weeks to several months, and thus solve the problem of the maintenance of display furniture for products which are subject to significant deterioration and whose external appearance is (for known furniture) rapidly degraded and no longer allows them to fulfill their function of attracting customers.

In addition, in a particular case of implementation of the invention, in which said covering and said shelves are made of said multi-layer material, said covering and said shelves can be assembled in the factory and serve as packaging (made in factory) for the transport of the products to be exhibited, the covering / shelves / products unit constituting a semi-rigid monobloc unit which can be delivered to ^" the sales store and put in place on the shelves by a simple fitting on said base.

The numerous advantages provided by the invention will be better understood through the following description which refers to the appended drawings, which illustrate without any limiting character, particular embodiments of display furniture according to the invention.

Figure 1 schematically illustrates the main components of refrigerated furniture according to the invention.

Figure 2 is a cross section in a substantially vertical plane of a display cabinet according to the invention which comprises a superstructure which can be substantially entirely made of a multilayer material based on cardboard and which is arranged on a base containing said cooling and ventilation means fresh air.

Figure 3 is a cross section in a substantially vertical plane of another embodiment of a cabinet according to the invention in which said base and the heavy structure (for example metal) of said cabinet comprises the perforated panel and the shelves and their support; in this figure is illustrated a covering according to the invention during a step of assembling said covering on said furniture structure comprising said base.

Referring to Figure 1 we see that a piece of furniture 17 according to the invention essentially comprises a base 8 forming a support for a superstructure 11 which can be assembled with said base or mounted thereon by a movement according to the arrow marked 9 _> that is to say by a simple fitting of said superstructure (of substantially paralleliped shape, bottomless, that is to say of which the lower face 10 is open) which covers said base.

Said base comprises a lower part 18 comprising a substantially horizontal flat plate whose edges 13 constitute means for supporting the edges 21 of the panels constituting said covering when the latter comes to cover said base 8. Said lower part 18 of said base 8 also comprises cross members 19 on which said flat plate is mounted, which cross members delimit free spaces between said flat plate and the ground on which said base is placed, which free spaces 1-4 allow the introduction of forks 20 of an apparatus or carriage known type of handling and thus allow easier handling of said base and / or said refrigerated cabinet.

Said base comprises an upper part 15 constituted by a kind of substantially parallelipedic box whose edges or substantially vertical angles 12 situated at the four corners of said parallelepiped are preferably rounded or broken so as to facilitate the fitting of said covering 11 around said parallelepiped of said upper part 15 of substantially paralleliped shape.

Said substantially parallelipedic box forming the upper part 15 of said base 8 has an opening -41 located on one of the side walls 42 of said upper part 15, and has in its upper face an opening -48 allowing the entry of fresh air coming from the lower part of the front of the furniture like illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3. which upper face of said base also includes a panel 3 ^ provided with sealing means with said covering superstructure 11; said upper face of said upper part 15 of said base 8 also includes an air outlet zone -49 after cooling of said air by passing over a battery for cooling said air, as also illustrated in FIG. 2.

Said superstructure 11 of said piece of furniture may essentially consist of a left side panel 2, a right side panel 3, a lower front panel 4, an upper front panel 5. a rear panel 6 which panel 2, 3. 4, 5. 6 are preferably made of said cardboard-based material and are assembled together by gluing or stapling.

Said superstructure 11 may also include a panel 7 provided with perforations 22, situated at the rear of shelves 1 which can

'be substantially horizontal or slightly inclined on the front to facilitate visibility and access to products for the consumer; said perforated panel 7 and said shelves 1 can in certain embodiments also be made of said multilayer material based on cardboard.

Said left 2 and right 3 side panels are thus designated by reference to an observer placed in front of the open frontal area or access area to the products (marked 0 with reference to FIG. 2) and observing the piece of furniture according to the invention. It can also be seen that said left and right side panels have a transparent part -45 making it possible to improve and facilitate the lighting of the products displayed on said shelves 1.

It can also be seen that said left side panel 2 has in its lower part a cutout delimiting an opening 40 which, when said superstructure or covering comes to rest by its lower edges 21 on said support means 13 of said base, can coincide and be located in look of said opening -41 provided in the side wall 42 of said base, and thus allow an inlet and / or an outlet of air in said base, which air may be necessary in the case of using a cooling system with compression fitted with a condenser and housed in said base as in the embodiment shown in FIG. 2. With reference to FIG. 2, it can be seen that said base 8 can comprise, in this embodiment, feet -40 delimiting with the ground 51 spaces 1 * 4 allowing the handling of said base and / or said piece of furniture. Said base 8 comprises in the lower part a plate or bottom 39, the edges of which constitute areas 13 of support or of range of said superstructure.

Said base comprises a lower compartment 38 or "hot" compartment in which a ventilated condenser 30 can be located, a compressor 31 of a refrigerant circulating in ^' pipes 36 connecting said compressor to said condenser, said condenser has a regulator 32 of supply of an evaporator 28 causing the cooling of the air coming into contact with said evaporator. It should be noted that the circuits of said refrigeration unit have been partially and schematically represented to facilitate the understanding of FIG. 2.

Said hot lower compartment 38 of said base 8 is separated, by a substantially horizontal wall 33, from a "cold" compartment 37 situated above said compartment 38, which compartment 37 is limited by side walls 42 of said base on the one hand, by said panel 33 and by an upper panel 34 on the other hand, in the front part of which is an opening 48 allowing the intake of fresh air, as indicated by the lick 25, in the lower front part of said piece of furniture, for example by to perforations 22 provided in the lower plate 16 for displaying products forming part of said covering and / or said structure of said piece of furniture.

Said compartment 37 comprises said evaporator 28 for example constituted by a finned evaporator and causing the cooling of the air escaping from compartment 37 by an opening 49 located at the rear of said base according to arrow 26 thanks to a fan 29 of air circulation; said cooled air moves in a substantially vertical movement 23 in an air circulation duct 27 delimited by two substantially vertical panels which are parallel to each other and which form part of the cabinet and the superstructure of the cabinet, namely: a rear panel perforated 7 which can optionally form shelf support 1 and is provided with a plurality of perforations 22 allowing penetration into the front part of said piece of furniture (according to arrow 24) and towards the exposed products

_, on said shelves, cooled air circulating in said rear sheath 27 of said cabinet; said rear sheath 27 of said piece of furniture is also delimited by said rear panel 6 of said covering.

Said piece of furniture comprises an air seal, which can be provided on said base and / or said covering, near (for example surrounding) said openings 48 and of fresh air inlet and outlet of said compartment. 37 of said base 8. In the upper part of said piece of furniture can be provided one or two ceiling or roof panels 43 which are advantageously partly at least transparent or translucent so as to allow the penetration inside said piece of light flux produced by a source 44 such as a lamp or a neon disposed above and outside said piece of furniture.

In the upper part of said piece of furniture is also provided a front upper front panel 5. which ceiling 43 and front 5 panels are linked to the side panels 2,3 and to said rear panel 6 by gluing and / or stapling preferably. Said covering also comprises in its lower front part a part 16 of said lower plate comprising said perforations 22 and allowing said fresh air intake according to said arrow 25 and comprises an external part or lower front panel 4, which lower and upper front panels (respectively 4 and 5) can advantageously be provided with an outer layer of screen-printed or printed paper or cardboard so as to receive messages or symbols or advertising graphics making it possible to attract the attention of the consumer.

With reference to FIG. 3, it can be seen that in this embodiment said piece of furniture comprises said covering 11 essentially consisting of said rear panel 6, said lower front panel 4 and side panels ₍ 2, 3 each comprising a cutout 47 (or opening) which is closed by a plate of transparent material in order to improve the visibility of the products displayed on the shelves 1.

Said covering comprises in the upper part sealing means 37b in order to limit the leakage of cold air when the covering 11 has been put in place and has come to cover the base 8 by a vertical downward movement according to the arrow 9-

Said covering also comprises in the lower rear part of said rear panel means 35a for airtightness between said base and said covering.

In this embodiment, said base 8 comprising said compartment 37 provided with said air intake zone 48 comprises a battery 28 which can be supplied with a cold fluid such as glycol water thanks to a pipe 46, which fluid cooling can be distributed by a refrigeration unit '(not shown) external to said cabinet.

Said compartment 37 also includes said cooled air circulation fan which, after passing over said battery 28, can go up in said sheath 27 essentially delimited by said rear panel 6 of said covering and said perforated panel 53 until arriving at the top of said piece of furniture and come back through the front part of it.

In the embodiment of FIG. 3. said rigid base 8 can be connected to a part of the superstructure which is made of rigid and durable material, such as steel for example, and which comprises said corrugated rear panel 53. said shelves 1 and a roof panel 54.

Claims

1. Refrigerated display cabinet for products on at least two planes (1) substantially superimposed, comprising at least one covering panel and means for guiding and circulating fresh air, and comprising means for distributing air fresh towards said planes, characterized in that it comprises at least one covering panel made of a thin and light material comprising cardboard, which covering is removably mounted on a base (8) which comprises part of said means of guidance and circulation of fresh air.

2. Furniture according to claim 1 characterized in that at least one of said panels of said covering has a density less than or equal to four hundred kilos per cubic meter and has a thickness less than or equal to thirty millimeters, and preferably said panel has a coefficient of thermal transmission and a low mechanical resistance, and preferably said panel comprises at least one printed or screen-printed external coating.

3. Furniture according to any one of claims 1 to 2 characterized in that said base forming the support of said covering comprises an upper part (15) which comprises edges (12) substantially rounded, and said base comprises means (13) d '' supporting at least part of the lower edge (21) of said covering

(11).

4. Furniture according to any one of claims 1 to 3 characterized in that said base comprises at least one fin exchanger (28) for cooling air circulating in said piece of furniture, which exchanger is constituted by an evaporator, which base comprises at least one fan (29) for circulating said air cooled by said exchanger (28). . Furniture according to any one of claims 1 to 3 characterized in that it comprises a fin exchanger (28) for cooling air circulating in said furniture, which exchanger consists of a cooling battery in which circulates a refrigerant which can be delivered to said cabinet by a refrigeration unit external to said cabinet, and said base comprises at least one fan (29) for circulating said cooled air.

6. 'Furniture according to any of claims 1 to 5 characterized in that at least one of said panels is provided with an opening (40) capable of coinciding with an opening (4l) arranged in a side wall (42) of said base, which ^' openings (40, 4l) allow the passage of a fluid. 7. Furniture according to any one of claims 1 to 6 characterized in that it comprises feet (40) or side members (19) which delimit at least one free space (14) allowing the engagement of forks (20) d 'A handling device under said base forming a support and thus allowing easier handling of said base and / or said piece of furniture.

8. Furniture according to any one of claims 1 to 7 characterized in that it comprises means (35) for sealing relative to the air between said base and said covering.

9- Furniture according to any one of claims 1 to 8 characterized in that said shelves are made of a multi-layer material comprising at least one layer of cardboard, and preferably said internal perforated panel (7) is made of said multi-material layer, and in that said piece of furniture comprises a ceiling panel (43) which is at least partly transparent. 10. Furniture according to any one of claims 1 to 9 characterized in that it comprises means for switching on and off a fan (29) of air circulation provided in said base, which switch is triggered by contact or proximity between said covering on said base.